A gallery walk the first Friday of every month lets culture vultures enjoy open house exhibitions all over town. Consult the preceding Sunday’s Register Guard for a complete listing of participating venues.
The university sponsors the Willamette Valley Folk Festival (541/686-INFO—541/686-4636) in May, which has attracted loosely defined folkies ranging from Tom Paxton to Doc Watson to Ani DiFranco. Call for a schedule of upcoming concerts. The free event is held in Alton Baker Park [1] at the Cuthbert Amphitheatre; bring some cash to enjoy Eugene [2]’s amazing array of food vendors.
Music lovers also revel in the city’s summer Concerts in the Parks festival. A series of free concerts is also held in Alton Baker Park’s Cuthbert Amphitheatre mid-July–late August. Nancy Griffith, David Grisman, and Robert Cray typify the national names appearing. Call 541/687-5000 for tickets and information. Lower profile groups grace Amazon and Westmoreland Parks as well as several other venues throughout the city. Contact CVALCO (800/547-5445) for a schedule and more information.
Bohemia Mining Days (541/942-5064, www.bohemiaminingdays.org [3]) convenes in mid-July; many of the events take place at re-created Bohemia City south of Eugene on Route 99 in Cottage Grove [4]. Highlights of the four-day event include the Miner’s Dinner and street dance, gold-panning demonstrations, and a carnival. Don’t miss the Grand Miner’s Parade, which happens on Saturday morning. Floats, horse teams, drill teams, and color guards make their way from Harrison Avenue to Row River Road with colorful costumes and the kind of enthusiasm last seen around here after turn-of-the-20th-century lucky strikes.
Also outside of Eugene [2], the annual Junction City Scandinavian Festival (Greenwood St. between 5th Ave. and 7th Ave., Junction City, www.scandinavianfestival.com [5]) celebrates the town’s Danish founders the second weekend in August. Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, and Icelandic heritage also exert a presence at the festival. Folk dancing, traditional crafts, and food make up the bulk of the activities. Skits of Hans Christian Andersen folktales are enacted during the four-day event, along with guided hour-long bus tours that take you by Scandinavian pioneer farmsteads. Junction City is 12 miles northwest of Eugene [2] off Route 99. Another Junction City–area event is the mid-March Daffodil Drive, west of town at the Long Tom Grange.
Autumn is ushered in with the Eugene Celebration (541/681-4108, www.eugenecelebration.com [6], 3-day pass $12). This three-day fete in late September includes such events as three parades (one is a pet parade, another features bike lights), an art show, a jazz festival, and the coronation of the Slug Queen. Street performers all over town and food booths in the parking lot at 8th Avenue and Willamette Street also help the community put its best foot forward.
Links:
[1] http://www.moon.com/destinations/oregon/the-willamette-valley/eugene/parks-and-trails/alton-baker-park
[2] http://www.moon.com/destinations/oregon/the-willamette-valley/eugene
[3] http://www.bohemiaminingdays.org
[4] http://www.moon.com/destinations/oregon/the-willamette-valley/eugene/around-town/cottage-grove
[5] http://www.scandinavianfestival.com
[6] http://www.eugenecelebration.com